Great efforts have been made to discover innovative ways that can help athletes to achieve an edge over their opponents in the sports arena. Over the years, many sports practitioners have turned to sports science to develop and use a variety of ergogenic aids. This desire has led human beings to seek ways to work efficiently and improve their performances in the diverse aspects of life.
It expresses the aspirations of the Olympic Movement in its athletic and technical sense as well as from a moral and educational perspective. These words were adopted by Pierre de Coubertin, who was present that day, as the Olympic motto and included in the first Olympic Charter in the 1890s. The three Latin words mean Faster - Higher – Stronger (modified by adding ‘-Together’ in 2021) and were first expressed by Dominican priest Henri Didon during the opening ceremony of a school sports event in 1881. The Olympic motto “Citius – Altius – Fortius” which expresses the aspirations of the Olympic Movement as captured in the Olympic Charter, resonates perfectly with the innate human desire to do and accomplish more in life. However, there is a need to censor commercial interest as well as safeguard safety and the nature of sports as a medium to celebrate natural human abilities. While the interplay between nature and nurture determines the unique psychophysiological responses to training and competition, technological exploits leading to advanced sports products coupled with favourable natural and/or manipulated internal (body) and external environmental conditions will ensure continued improvement in performance. This book chapter interrogates the factors associated with efforts towards improvement of performance in endurance sports events, with a specific focus on marathon races, and the future implications for training, competition, and the nature of sports. However, some approaches used to improve sports performance may pose ethical concerns and may challenge sports as a concept of celebrating natural human abilities. With stiff competition from athletes from different parts of the world, constant upgrading of sports science based approaches to training and competition are employed to achieve more success.
Performance in different athletic activities has continued to improve over time, with some athletes from diverse parts of the world registering new world records from time to time.
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